Rumors are okay but when it comes to mysteries, our brain gets a bite bigger than it can stomach in a single go. There are many mysteries that linger around for quite long and captivate our imagination for years. May be we forget them for sometime but again, when we hear about it, we find in ourselves, a whole new interest and love to dive deep into the mystery, hoping to find a solution. Alas, such mysteries are usually unsolvable by design. Here we list 5 mysteries of India, that we are pretty sure, will give enough fodder for your brain for at least today!

Let us begin then…

Mysteries of India – 1: Bhoot Billi (The Ghost Cat)

Draw the images of these three animals in your mind – dog, cat and mongoose. Now, mix the three to create a new animal with following features – head or face of a dog with the back or hind portion of the animal resembling that of a mongoose – boasting a long tail and the central part resembling that of a cat – a big cat of the likes of lions and tigers. Turns out that the animal in question is a cryptid feline is pretty broad and big enough.

This cryptid feline showed up in areas near Pune and has been blamed for eating, within a span of just 10 days, one (1) goat and forty-five (45) pigeons. The owner of the doomed victims was someone by the name Feroz Dilawar Khan. Feroz lived in the area close to Sanjay Park – just 100 miles outside Mumbai. Eyewitnesses (including Feroz) reported that this black cryptid feline came at around 7 PM every night and killed the animals and feasted. Several attempts were made to capture the creature but in vain. All the traps set by Feroz and the nearby residents simply turned out to absolute flop against the Bhoot Billi. The creature somehow managed to dodge the traps and vanish among treetops.

The collective efforts of police, forest officials and fire brigade also proved to be helpless in front of the cryptid feline. According to Chairman of Sanjay Park Society, the unknown creature that had been terrorizing the residents was actually smaller than a lion but defeated a hyena in terms of size but th likelihood of the creature being a wild cat that has not yet been identified is slim to none.

Several people have tried to provide several explanations. For example, some people said that it could be black panther while others said it was nothing by an Indian civet. Some others said that the creature was a binturong. However, none of the explanations that came through managed to fit the description as given by the terrified people. So, the mischief-maker remained unidentified and then suddenly the mystery ended. The animal was seen no more.

Mysteries of India – 2: Stoneman – The Serial Killer

The Stoneman of India became one of the most mysterious cases in India. In 1989, the streets of Calcutta (now Kolkata) in West Bengal, became terrorized by a serial killer on the lose. The reason why he killer was called Stoneman is that he (or the group of killers – as it was never identified whether the crime was committed by an individual or several people) used to kill homeless people sleeping on streets using a single stone. The killer used to smash the heads of the victims using the stone weighing around 30 kilos. Reports say that 13 people were killed by the Stoneman and none of the cases were solved by Calcutta Police. The killer (or killers) were never identified. 13 people were killed in a span of 6 months.

In the context of Stoneman, it is interesting to say that a similar incident took place in Bombay (now Mumbai). Same modus operandi was used by a killer or killers to kill such street-dwelling people. The terror in Bombay lasted for a period of over 2 years. It all started in 1985 and it all ended in 1988. Even Bombay police failed to solve any of the cases. The only exception in Bombay case was that one of the intended victims manage to escape with injuries. Unfortunately, the victim failed to identify the assailant because of the poor lighting conditions and the police was left with no clue.

A similar incident took place in Assam’s Guwahati just last year in 2016 in the month of February.

Take it! Indian culture in ancient times was so advanced that even modern science gets baffled to this day. While news channels like BBC try to misguide people of the world by portraying India as bad, India is far more advanced that the British can even imagine. One such example is the Veerbhadra Temple in Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh. There are many wonders in this temple and we intend to write about the temple in great details later.

For the sake of telling the mystery, did you know there are 70 stone pillars in the temple that are designed for supporting the temple’s roof? Of these 70, there is 1 pillar that doesn’t touch the ground. It is basically hanging in air and a thin sheet of paper or a cloth can easily pass through. In 1910, one bastard British Engineer wanted to unearth the mystery of the hanging pillar and in his quest to learn the technology, he paid no heed to the architectural wonder. He tried to move it and managed to make one corner of the pillar touch the ground. This distorted the fresco on the ceiling and the whole ceiling got misaligned. Now, it cannot be fixed. The mystery here is the technology that was used.

Mysteries of India – 4: Baba Harbhajan Singh Shrine

We don’t know whether to call it a mystery or plain superstition. What’s even more surprising is that the Shrine of Baba Harbhajan Singh is associated with none other than the mighty Indian Army! Surprised? Well, this shrine is located in Sikkim and to be more precise, in Nathula Pass. Why is it important? Nathula Pass is at India-China border and is one of the four points for Border Personnel Meeting. So, what’s the fuss about this shrine?

Baba Harbhajan Singh is none other than a sepoy in Indian Army associated with Punjab Regiment’s 23rd Battalion. That’s just a soldier right? Wrong! The soldier died back in 1968 when he was busy escorting a mule column all the way up to Dongchui La from Tuku La. His death was tragic. He slipped and fell into a nullah with strong stream. That was the end of the sepoy. His body wasn’t found until 3 days after the accident and it is said that it was the spirit of the sepoy himself that helped the soldiers posted at Nathula Pass to find his own body. Once the body was found, Indian Army gave a full military burial to his body.

Then, one fine night, the sepoy’s spirit shows up in the dreams of a fellow soldier where the spirit asks for a shrine to be built for him. It was done! Inside the shrine, a big image of the young Harbhajan Singh is kept in a central room which has a carpeted floor. Interestingly, armed personnel are put there on duty, whose job is to stay barefoot and make the bed for Baba, cleaning his boot and also his uniform. These on-duty personnel also shuttle the photo of the sepoy between office and bedroom. The army personnel posted on duty at the Shrine insist that every morning they find the bed cover crumbled and the boots in muddy condition.

It is believed by the Indian soldiers that Baba Harbhajan Singh will warn them of any Chinese aggression at least 3 days before the actually aggression. Not just that, Baba Harbhajan Singh is so revered that the Chinese soldiers actually leave a seat empty for him during flag meetings at Nathula Pass.

As we said, we don’t know whether this is a mystery or a superstition or something else. There is no way of verifying this and get it, Indian Army is not going to allow you to go in for a full-scale investigation there. So, we will tag this a mystery.

Mysteries of India – 5: Monkey Man of Delhi

From Stoneman to Monkey Man – that’s creepy. In 2001, Delhites were terrorized by what is known as Money Man. The incident appeared back in May of 2001 and it was reported that a creature resembling a monkey came out at night and attacked people. There was widespread confusion about the exact shape and size of the creature because reports of eyewitnesses varied. The average height as described was about 4 feet. Some described the creature to have a black hair cover, boasting metal claws and metal helmet. Apart from that, they also said that the Monkey Man had 3 buttons on his chest and had red eyes that glowed. Some others however have described the Monkey Man to be about 8 feet tall with a muscular build and vulpine snout. The described the creature being able to jump from one building to another just like someone trained in parkour skills.

Some said that the Monkey Man was nothing but Indian version of the famous Bigfoot while some said that it was nothing but an Avatar of Hanuman – the Hindu God. The injuries inflicted by the Monkey Man included scratches, bites and bruises. Only 13th May 2001, 15 people became victims and then further sightings were reported in Kanpur in year 2002 in the month of February and then again in New Delhi in July 2002. The panic grew so much that the police force in Delhi eventually released sketches by artists (artistic impressions) hoping that someone will help to catch the culprit. Alas, that didn’t happen and the whole episode mysteriously ended. Later, experts called it nothing but a classic example of mass hysteria.